Wonderland
by Otherdark
Summary: [AU] When Kagome Higurashi is dragged into a rabbit hole, she finds herself in a completely different world-- one that she's destined to save. [IYXKag, SessXRin, MirXSan] C&C appreciated.
1. The Rabbit Hole

Disclaimer: Meah. Poor me. I own nothing. Nothing I say. Especially not the cool shizness used in this story.  
  
Vocabulary for this chapter (how sad): Goshinboku- old god tree.  
  
Chapter I—Down the Rabbit Hole  
  
"Did we have any homework?"  
  
"I don't think so, Yuma."  
  
"Well . . . I'll see you round, then."  
  
"Okay. 'Bye."  
  
"'Bye Kagome!"  
  
Kagome's thick brown loafer-heels clunked on the pavement as she walked briskly away from school. She filtered through her backpack for her house key; humming some weird unknown song to herself; nearly succeeding in getting hit by a bus.  
  
She found her key and looked up, feeling the afternoon sun on her face. She waved to a friend across the street as she turned up the walkway to her house—  
  
Something green and blue, with a bushy red fox tail, scampered across her yard.  
  
Kagome blinked twice, then stared as the thing screeched to a halt. It looked like a little boy, 8 or 9 years old, with longish red hair pulled back into a ponytail, dressed in an old-fashioned kimono suit. It would have been rather ordinary, except for its tail, ears that sloped up to a point, and fangs that showed when it muttered to itself. It smacked itself in the forehead a few times, then reached into its pocket and pulled out a gold pocket watch.  
  
"Oooh . . .!" she heard it squeal. "I'm late, she'll have my head, oooh . . .!"  
  
Kagome gazed blankly at the thing, in shock. She watched as it scurried in zigzags across the lawn several times, then ran up to the old Goshinboku and hopped into a hole at its base.  
  
"Hey," Kagome called, dropping her backpack behind a convenient bush. "Hey!!"  
  
She stumbled over and kneeled at the hole in the tree, peeking over the edge cautiously. It seemed to stretch on for miles, the light hitting the earthy sides for a short ways then fading into darkness.  
  
"Huh," she breathed, scratching the back of her head. "Where did that fox thing go?"  
  
Kagome pulled her skirt down over her thighs, still peering suspiciously into the fox-hole. "Weird," she muttered, and stood up.  
  
White wisps of what had once been bony hands grabbed her by the ankles and yanked her into the hole, silencing her scream with the darkness.  
  
It seemed like she had been falling for hours when suddenly she hit bottom at full force, knocking the wind out of her and surely breaking something in her foot. She collapsed on the dirt ground, trying to breathe, and stared back up into the darkness.  
  
"Having fun down there?"  
  
Kagome jumped, sitting upright instantly, and looked around wildly. "Who's there??"  
  
Two black shoes and the hems of a pair of gray, white-trimmed pants entered her vision. "My, you look lost," came the amused voice from above her head. "Does this poor rabbit hole go too deep for you, schoolgirl?"  
  
She tugged on her skirt again, shaking slightly with surprise. The pungent smell of cigarette smoke wafted down to her and she coughed, her blue-gray eyes shifting up to land on the face of the person front of her.  
  
His gray suit was impeccably clean and well-kept for the extreme amount of dirt that seemed to be around. A red kerchief was stuck neatly into the breast pocket, which was embroidered with a small white-and-red flower. In one white-gloved hand he held a lit cigarette; the other was hidden in his pants pocket. Tendrils of thin, glossy silver hair draped over his shoulders and down past his waist. His eyes, in contrast to his hair, were a startling gold color, liquid with slit pupils, like a cat. Two purple stripes streaked over both of his pale cheekbones, and the tapered point of a blue crescent moon showed from under the brim of his black bowler hat.  
  
But perhaps the most noticeable features of all were his elongated, pointed ears—or the huge fluffy white tail draped casually over his right shoulder. She gasped. He was beautiful, in a mischievous sort of way; and his cocky half-grin at her surprise made her slightly nervous.  
  
"What's the matter?" he smirked. "Cat got your tongue?"  
  
"Who-who are you?" Kagome stammered as he breathed smoke in her face.  
  
((A/N: I'd hate that. He's sexy but that's where I draw the line.))  
  
"Ah!" He nearly dropped his cigarette as he hopped to attention. "But the real question is, who are _you_?"  
  
Kagome blinked. "But . . . I asked you first."  
  
"And I asked you second."  
  
"Will you just answer me??"  
  
"Well, why can't you answer _me_?"  
  
She frowned, folding her arms over her chest. "Why are you being so difficult??"  
  
"Because. I know the answers to both our questions."  
  
"Well I don't!!"  
  
"You don't?" He leaned his face in close to hers, making her breath catch in her throat. "You should know who you are . . . that's a shame."  
  
"No, I know who I am, I don't know who YOU are!" she said, her frustration seeping into her voice.  
  
"Why didn't you say so then?"  
  
"I DID!!!"  
  
The man grinned, showing thin white fangs. "But of course. I am Cheshire, at your service." He ground the stump of his cigarette into the dirt with his toe.  
  
He looked up suddenly, scanning the blackness with his haunting golden eyes. "So, schoolgirl—"  
  
"It's Kagome."  
  
"I know. So, schoolgirl—"she gave him a sharp glare—"you ready?"  
  
". . .For what?" Kagome cocked her head quizzically.  
  
"To go down." He gestured to the floor, where a miniscule crack in the dirt was slowly widening.  
  
"But I've already gone down far enough!" she protested.  
  
"You've only hit the first level, schoolgirl! You're going all the way down!"  
  
Kagome stared at him in disbelief. "And . . . how far is that exactly?"  
  
Cheshire seemed to ponder it for a moment, then he grinned. "Oh, another three levels. You ready now?"  
  
"NO!"  
  
"Okay, let's go!"  
  
His long, thin fingers wrapped around her wrist and jumped with her into the hole that had formed from the crack in the ground. 


	2. Going Down

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inuyasha, or its characters. I don't own Alice in Wonderland or American McGee's Alice, both of which were inspiration for this fic.

Wow, finally, chapter 2!! . Took me long enough, ne? So... I guess... enjoy. If you can stand me...

Chapter II- Going Down

Kagome kicked her legs frantically, hoping to slow herself in her fall. But with Cheshire's hand clamped firmly on her wrist, pulling her down along with him, all attempts were in vain (seeing as he was quite a lot bigger than her). She gave in with a sigh and squirmed downwards to settle her weight on his chest, hoping that, hey, if they hit ground, he'd break her fall.

"Comfortable?" he said loudly over the rush of air.

Kagome nodded, fidgeting a little as he wrapped his other arm around her waist.

"Good. You know your skirt was flying up."

She turned furiously red and kicked Cheshire in the shin. He only grinned, making her rather nervous—again.

"Okay, so. I can only go with you to the second level, so I'll be dropping you off there. From then you'll have to go on by yourself to the fourth level—that's two levels down from the second level—and land there."

"How do I land?"

"You will, don't worry. From the fourth level you must take the left path—now that's important, the left path, never the right," he ordered, absently blowing a strand of silver hair out of his mouth. "Take the left path through the Labyrinth to the Queen's Garden. If you don't run into Inuyasha in the Garden, keep going, you should find him in the Forest. When you do find Inuyasha, ask him to take you to the Mad Hatter—"

"The... Mad Hatter??"

"Yes, please don't interrupt me."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Sorry."

"Anyway, ask him to take you to the Mad Hatter. Don't be too rash with him, he has very little manners and he's quite rude, but if he refuses you, do NOT try and find the Hatter by yourself, just keep asking. You will need Inuyasha to guide you down to the sixth level, where the Hatter and the March Hare live. When you meet him, the Hatter will give you a key, most likely, if he recognizes you, which will open the Door in the Queen's palace, but we'll get to that later."

"When?" Kagome asked over the wind. "I thought you said you were leaving me?"

"I'll meet you again soon, maybe after you have spoken with the Hatter." Cheshire glanced down, spotting a candelabra jutting out of the wall a ways down. "Remember. Land at the fourth level and take the left path. Your feet should be able to guide you from there."

"O-okay," Kagome said as bravely as she could, "but I don't understand half of what you just said to me."

Cheshire smiled. Not a grin, not a smirk. This time he was truly smiling.

"Do not forget, schoolgirl. You are the only one who can open the Door. Find the Protector and the path is set." He sighed, closing his eyes wearily. "I can only help you for so long. You'll have to learn to help yourself... and all of us... soon enough."

Kagome's heart leapt into her throat and she wriggled in Cheshire's grasp.

"_Do_ be careful, schoolgirl," he chuckled, and kissed her lightly on the mouth.

(AN: . ... -dodges tomatoes-)

She squeaked, her hand flying out of his, raised for a slap. Then she noticed something she hadn't before—

They had stopped.

In front of the candelabra, they had simply stopped. The odd thing was, there wasn't any floor for them to have stopped on. They were suspended in thin air, something she didn't want to believe...

_But then_, she remembered, _anything could happen here. Look at me; I'm suspended in the air, three miles down a rabbit hole in my backyard, kissing the most beautiful man I've ever met. Sounds normal enough for these people... whoever they are._

Cheshire took a step backward, and resumed his usual grin. "Good luck," he said briskly, touching the brim of his hat. "Second level, going down."

He yanked hard on the candelabra, spun in a circle with a soul-lifting laugh, and shot up into the darkness that led to the surface of the earth.

Kagome started, staring up after him. "Cheshire?" she called up into the dark. "...Cheshire!!"

"Going down," said a hoarse voice, echoing Cheshire's words. "I like the sound of that."

The schoolgirl's stomach dropped and she went catapulting further down the rabbit hole.

Kagome lay sprawled on the red-and-white tiles of the fourth level, panting after having landed forcefully again. Something in her foot was definitely broken now, and her whole body was sore from the impact of her fall. It seemed that graceful landings... just weren't her style.

She pushed herself up slowly into a sitting position, breathing carefully, and looked around her. The ceiling ascended up into blackness again, only farther this time, with only the light from this level in sight. She was walled into a circular room with tiled walls. Two red doors stood in front of her; one about six inches high, the other normal sized. And, of course, the six-inch door was the one on the left... the one she needed to go through.

"Dammit, Cheshire!!!" Kagome yelled to the infinite dark. "The door on the left, my foot!"

She sighed, and crawled over to get a good look at the small door. "What am I going to _do_..." she mumbled to herself, touching the tiny doorknob with her finger.

"Oooooh, I'm LATE!!"

Kagome spun around, hearing the tiny voice from somewhere near her foot. And to top off the weirdness so far, she saw the little fox-boy from before, only now he was barely two inches tall, and scurrying around like a mouse. He scampered past her, hurled the tiny door open with his minuscule fists, and flew in, slamming it behind him.

She blinked, glaring hatefully at the small red door. "I need to get smaller..." she muttered, flopping onto her back. "Or the stupid door could get bigger..."

She scratched a bruise forming on her arm and closed her eyes in thought.

"What to do, what to do?" laughed a voice—the hoarse voice she had heard before, on the second level. "Wait there until one of you is smaller, or take the right-hand path?" The voice chuckled mischievously. "What a dilemma..."

"Don't listen," Kagome told herself. "Don't... trust the random voice in the sky. Take the left path, like Cheshire said—"

_Why do you trust him? _the other part of her brain reasoned. _You only just met him. Do you believe him because you should? Or because he kissed you...?_

She sat bolt upright, flushing red in the face. "I'm taking the left path, and that's that. Now shut up."

"Ehh... great." She sighed, rubbing her eye. "Now I'm talking to myself... just great."

Something small and hard fell on her head, bouncing off her hair and onto the floor next to her. She picked it up warily between her thumb and forefinger, examining it closely. It was a tiny sliver of some sort of purplish crystal, pointed and jagged, as if it had been broken.

She cocked her head and looked at it closer, and in doing so pricked her forefinger on the sharp point of the end.

A drop of red blood ran down the side of the crystal, and suddenly the tiny red door wasn't so tiny anymore.


End file.
